


What's stolen

by RyuuLu



Category: Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019)
Genre: F/F, I wasn't ready for the end, Now it's not!, Shouldn't be left alone at work, This sort of happened, Well... this was only supposed to be a one-shot, oh well, spoilers for season 4!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:42:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28779948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RyuuLu/pseuds/RyuuLu
Summary: Okay so... first thing first: SPOLIERS FOR SEASON 4 OF CARMEN SANDIEGO!!!!!!-x-x-x-x-x-She hadn't expected her life to turn completely upside-down this fast. 2 years with no contact, now, now things where starting to move in a whole new direction.And if that wasn’t enough, something canister was being planed in the shadows. But if there was one thing Julia Argent was sure of, was as long as Carmen was by her side, everything would be alright at the end of the day, one way or another.
Relationships: Julia "Jules" Argent & Chase Devineaux, Julia "Jules" Argent & Chase Devineaux & Ivy & Zack, Julia "Jules" Argent & Ivy, Julia "Jules" Argent & Zack, Julia "Jules" Argent/Carmen Sandiego | Black Sheep
Comments: 18
Kudos: 289





	1. Since you stole mine

**Author's Note:**

> Going to say this again; this one has spoilers for Camren Sandiego season 4! So if you havent seen it yet, why not! Go and watch it! 
> 
> English isn't my first language and the dyslexia doens't help. But hey! If it was easy it wouldn't be fun

_“We have been experiencing the first uptick in activity in over two years. No doubt, related to the recent escapes. Crime-Net indicates a major hit is going down tonight.”_

The Chief’s debrief was coming out of the radio, making Chase speed up even more. Throughout the two years, his driving had improved. Parking the car perfectly outside of the museum, Chase is the first one out of the car.

“We are at the museum Chief.”

He reports in, and just as Julia leaves the car herself, the blue sports car that had been following them parks right beside her, only to have Zack step out beside her with a grin.

“Yo.”

“We got this.”

Ivy tells them, hand on her hip and bearing the same grin as her brother. Julia, being the observer as always, spots what is already waiting for them.

“It seems someone else already did.”

In front of the museum doors is one of the few V.I.L.E operatives that had managed to slip through their finger so many times through out the two years. Paper Star had been tied up in a red rope, left as a perfect gift for them. Smiling, Julia starts to lift her head up, eyes landing on something she had not seen in so long, and she had been wondering if she would ever see that red coat and fedora ever again. From the corner of her eyes, she could see how her team had spotted the same thing as she had, all three of them smiling.

“You do realize we’re gonna have to take her down. Ugh. Kidding.”

Zack’s voice turned serious, only to loss it again when Ivy hit him.

“I’ll take you down, Agent. I don’t care if you are Chief’s pet.”

Ivy tells her brother, making Zack smile even more as they turn their attention towards the roof once more, just in time too see the woman in red dip her fedora before disappearing.

“You have to agree, it would have been fun.”

Zack comments, turning his attention back to his sister. Rolling her eyes, Julia turns her own attention towards Chase, ignoring the twins as they start their normal round of bickering. Seeing that Chase roll his own, he steps towards Paper Star that looks up at the sound. Seeing her long-time partner pull out the pen and activating it, Julia sent Ivy a look to silence her and Zack before joining Chase.

_“Yes, agent Devineaux.”_

Chief answered, looking at her agents. Her voice might be kept in the same tone as it’s always in, the only difference is the smile that had been showing more often. With a nod of his head, the hologram Chief turns around, eyes landing on Paper Star.

“Well, that was a quick job.”

“Of course, we are professionals.”

Zack points out, making them all roll their eyes.

“We didn’t work alone.”

Julia voiced up; this made the Chief look at her. The older woman’s eyes had grown in surprised and Julia had a feeling that the woman wasn’t all to sure she had read what was hidden between the lines in her comment.

_“She’s back?”_

The question was spoken in a low tone, but the team red agent’s, a nickname they had all decided on soon after Ivy and Zack had joined, nods their head as an answer. Shaking her head, the Chief turns to look at Paper Star once more.

_“The pickup team is on the way, I guess that what ever she was about to steal will show up again in no time.”_

The Chief tells them, before ending the call and Chase bows down to take his pen. Looking towards the roof, Julia let her mind wander of. She had not seen Carmen in these two years, she and Shadowsan had completely gone of the grid. Julia had a feeling that Carmen would go and seek her mother out, so she had made sure neither of the others had a way to find the place. After what she had learned in the files and what she had to find for her research all those years ago, Julia had come to terms that Carmen needed this time.

“Don’t be fools, if the stolen artifacts will be dropped off at someone’s place, it will be at Julia’s.”

Hearing her name, Julia quickly turns around, eyes landing on the smiling team behind her.

“What?”

Seeing her confusion, what has become her closes friends starts to laugh, making Julia blush slightly. Going over what she had heard Chase say, that blush turned even more red as she realises what he had been pointing towards. Seeing how she grows even more red, the group started to laugh even more, Ivy walking up to place a hand on her shoulder.

“Oh, no need to be embarrassed. We all know how close you two are.”

She comments with a smile, a smile that vanish when Julia looks away, a sadness creeping into her eyes.

“Julia?”

The worry in the girls’ voice made Julia smile sadly, it’s not their fault that this happened. Carmen had left them too, but compared to her, Carmen had left them a way to ACME and a lifestyle not too far from what they were used to. And in her old partners case, Chase had just recently gotten over his obsession to capture Carmen because he believed her to be their main target. Glancing towards the man, she couldn’t stop feeling proud, he had grown a lot during that short time of her leave from ACME.

She had been surprised when he showed up at her work, only to ask if Carmen Sandiego were a good person after all. The months after Carmen’s kidnapping and then the last two years, he had grown to become a very capable agent. And there it was, another one of the reasons why Julia made sure Carmen wouldn’t be disturbed.

She had done so much for the people around her; she had changed them and their lives for the better. So, Carmen needed to have a shoot at a normal life herself. It didn’t mean that she missed their conversations and flirting.

Seeing the van before the others, Julia pulls herself together, this wasn’t the time to fall back into a spiral, she could do that when she was home alone.

“They are here.”

She points out, nodding her head towards the van. Putting a complete stop to any more questions. She could however see the other three agents’ look at one another, concern still in their eyes.

_-X-X-X-X-X-_

Unlocking her door, Julia was ready to fall asleep the moment she steps into her apartment. They were back too square one once more. The pickup and drop off had gone perfectly, but when the Chief had shown up to interrogate Paper Star, the V.I.L.E agent is gone without a trace.

Taking of her jacket, her eyes lands on the red coat. Blinking a few times, Julia tried to remember when she had taken it out. She was sure to keep that red coat in her wardrobe, where it would be safe for the day Carmen would return to pick it up. It didn’t add up as to why she would take it out now.

“Hello Jules.”

It wasn’t the coat she had been holding onto for so long, this coat belongs to the woman that had been aiding them tonight. Turning around slowly, her eyes meet the grey once. Eyes that had woken her up so many times, eyes she hadn’t expected to lay eyes on once more. Forcing herself to take a proper look at Carmen, she sees the signature smile, a smile that always made her legs weak.

Not much had changed over the two years they had not seen one another; it was the same beautiful woman that had sat down in front of her on the train. The same woman that she almost arrested, only to be pulled on stage to help in a caper. The same woman that she nearly got killed in Stockholm, even if that wasn’t her fault and the Chief had apologised properly for that. A woman that had someone still managed to find trust in her once more, so much that she had asked for help.

“Carmen.”

Her voice weak and shaky when she said the name, she could feel how she starts to blush once more. Seeing the taller woman step towards her, Julia had to fight herself not to look away or down.

“Here to drop off what was taken?”

As she asked the question, she could hear Chase comment in her head, how he and the twins would find this amazing. Seeing how Carmen stops right in front of her, Julia leans her head back to look at her properly, it almost felt as if Carmen had grown even more.

“Oh, Paper Star didn’t have time to take anything from the museum.”

“Oh.”

“I’m here about something else that has been stolen.”

“Something else that has been stolen. Were there more than two capers tonight?”

“This was stolen long ago, I’m just here to make sure it’s still in good hands.”

“Your coat and fedora are safely stored in my wardrobe.”

“Not talking about my clothes, but happy to know you still have them around if I would ever need them in a quick run.”

Julia had not realised until now how close they had become, the only reason she even realised it, is when Carmen grabs hold of her hand.

“Well, I gladly keep it with me. Since you stole mine.”

Julia wasn’t sure who moved first and frankly she didn’t care. In that moment, time froze, and Julia could feel herself melt into the kiss.

She knew Chief and the others had been furious about Paper Stars escape, she herself had been a tab bit anger. But in this moment, Julia was happy that she had. Because it meant that Carmen would finally be back in her life once more.


	2. Stolen long ago

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah... this story was meant to be just a one-shot... then I was left to my own labyrinth of a brain at work and all of a sudden, more chapters where being worked on... Oh well, hope you all like this little update for now!

“Hey Red, you there?”

Carmen jumps, not ready for the sudden voice in her ear. It had been so long since she had heard Player’s voice coming out of the earpiece. Since VILE had been taken down and she had finally gone to meet her mother, Carmen had kept talking to her oldest friend through normal phone, like anyone around her would. She had however kept the red pendant as a reminder of what she had gone through.

“Player? What’s up?”

Hearing her speak, her mother who had been sitting in front of her looks up with a questioning look. Seeing it, Carmen shrugs her shoulders as an answer for now. It was weird for him to suddenly use the old system and she started to grow worried.

“How would you feel about getting into the field once more?”

Yeah, she didn’t have a good feeling about any off this.

“What happened?”

She could feel how she’s falling into her old self once more or had that even left her to begin. Rising from the seat, she starts to walk around, not being able to be sitting in this moment.

“According to ACME, VILE has managed to escape. I have to say, it took them longer than I would have expected.”

Player starts to explain, and Carmen can hear him type away on the other side of the line.

“Well, they were striped of everything they had and the VILE agent’s that wasn’t captured would have a hard time trying to get them out.”

Carmen explains, her mind going through the list of VILE agents that was still out there, going through what she knew about them and who would be able to pull of a prison break.

“Well, ACME’s new Crime-net, there is going to be a caper going down in a few days and someone have to make sure to put a stop to it before it happens.”

Carmen finds herself freeze over the news. She knew what her oldest friend is trying to do, and had this been 2 years ago, she would have jumped at the opportunity to take down VILE at any moment. Now, now things were different. Turning her head, her eyes lands on the woman she had grown close too during these 2 years.

“Player…”

A tired sigh was let out as she spoke to tag name.

“Carmen.”

Hearing her mother speak up, Carmen turns her full attention towards her mother, surprised that she had spoken up.

“Go!”

“What?”

“Go, take care of whatever is happening.”

Carmen blinks a few times, completely lost at what is going on. Her mother rises from her seat, taking the few steps towards her. With a hand on Carmen’s shoulder, she gives her long-time missing daughter a warm smile.

“It has been amazing to have you here, helping out and finally get the time to get to know you. But you have the wandering soul of your father and I can see you are not happy being stuck here. You need to be out there, seeing the world and putting things right is what you love and what you need to do.”

“She has a good point there, Red.”

And now they were teaming up on her. Taking a deep breath, Carmen let what her mother had said sink in, and she knew the woman in front of her is right. She loved spending time with her and kids in the orphanage, but there was a hunger that couldn’t be satisfied with this life. She missed the thrill, the adventure. To see the world and all its history, to make sure that history stayed where it belonged. To see her favourite agent and listen to her rambling on about just those things.

And that’s the second time she freezes up, when had started to miss seeing Jules more than Ivy and Zack, or even Shadowsan? She knew the reason, and it was haunting her. She had said a proper goodbye to her found family if one could call a letter and an ACME pen a proper goodbye. But Carmen also knew Ivy and Zack wouldn’t be happy to go back to their old life, they had grown use to the thrill and hunt. ACME was the closes thing to still have that.

Shadowsan had followed her to the airport, seeing her off before heading home to his brother. It had felt weird to see the man that had grown into a father figure to be left behind, knowing she wouldn’t see him anytime soon. She never had to say goodbye to Player, he was always around. It had been harder to come up with a reason to look for Jules and tell her goodbye, and then there was the guilt of what she had done when under the control of VILE.

Feeling her mother squish her shoulder, Carmen is brought back to reality. With one look at the woman standing in front of her, Carmen knew what she would have to do.

“What do you know Player.”

-X-X-X-X-X-

Carmen knew she would be rusty, she had tried to keep her training up, but it wasn’t the same as it once had been. She was at least happy she wasn’t as out of shape as one Paper Star had been that night. With Player’s help, she had sat up a trap for the paper throwing maniac, a trap she had walked right into.

“ACME is four minutes out Red.”

Player informs her as Carmen makes sure Paper Star is properly tied up and double checking that she doesn’t have any hidden papers on her or anything around.

“Thank you, Player.”

She stands up, looking down at Paper Star and took in the work she had done. The young woman is looking back at her with raged filed eyes.

“You won’t get away with this!”

“Have you forgotten? I’ve taken you guys down once; I can do it again.”

She starts to tell the VILE agent, leaning down towards her.

“And this time around, you won’t have any of your fancy toys or money to fully protect you all.”

She adds with a low voice. Standing up once more, Carmen hears two cars’ heading her way. Taking a step back, she shoots a line towards the museum rooftop and pulls herself up. Landing perfectly, she looks down to see the signature ACME car and a blue sport car.

“We are at the museum Chief.”

Chase voice echoes in the silent night, making Carmen take a step forwards so she could see properly. Her eyes lands on Julia the second the woman steps out of the car Chase had been driving.

“Yo.”

“We got this.”

Turning her head to the side, Carmen should have known the twins were driving the sports car. She smiles, they looked very professional, wearing the ACME suites, but Carmen is happy to see it hadn’t changed their personality’s.

“it seems someone else already did.”

At the sound of her voice, Carmen turns her full attention back to Julia once more, smiling. She was as observant as always and Carmen fight’s herself not to jump down to them, a fight that got harder when Julia turns her head to look up at her, Ivy, Zack and Chase doing the same.

“You do realize we’re gonna have to take her down. Ugh. Kidding.”

“I’ll take you down, Agent. I don’t care if you are Chief’s pet.”

They were still her idiots; Carmen smiles big at the scene between her two friends. Knowing that if she stayed any longer, she wouldn’t be able to leave, Carmen takes hold of the front of her fedora before dipping her head. Signalling that it was now up to them, before turning around and left.

“Why didn’t you talk to them?”

“If I did, I wouldn’t be able to go back.”

“Carmen, your mother is alright with this life of yours.”

“Player.”

“At least go and talk to Julia!”

This made Carmen stop running. Had Player just told her to go and see Jules, if anything, she would have thought he would have told her to go and talk to Ivy and Zack.

“Player.”

Her voice grew tired once more, even if she wanted to talk to Jules, and she really wanted too. She has no idea of what to say or do when being put face to face with the woman.

“Just go to her apartment, things will sort itself out, it always did with you two.”

Camren let’s out a sigh, ready to tell him this was different. She didn’t get the chance, however.

“Do I need to remind you that I was the middle hand for you and Julia during the capers to find VILE’s lost treasures? I saw and heard it all Red! Go and talk to her!”

And with that, the come went dead. With a deep breath, Carmen tries to collect herself. She had just been lectured by her oldest friend and deep down, she knew he was right about it all. With new energy, Carmen changes direction, now heading for Jules apartment. It was time to make sure her stolen heart was in safe hands.


	3. Thank you for the Jewel

”I really dislike this!”

Ivy points out, from Julia's spot behind her she can see how the hand that's holding onto the flashlight is shaking. And Julia can't blame her, she would much rather have stayed away from the dark corridor they are now walking down. But Zack had to challenge his sister, which had led to Ivy pulling Julia with her.

“Everything will be alright; it looks like this was a dead end after all. The amount of untouched dust in this building, it's clear no one has been here for years.”

Julia explains, hopping this would calm Ivy down. Seeing the ginger haired girl in front of her relax slightly made Julia smile. That's when things suddenly went down hill.

A hand in the darkness suddenly grabbed hold of Julia's right arm, pulling her into the shadows. The sudden action left no room for her to call out in alarm, and the short ACME agent finds herself being pushed up against a wall, her capture standing only a centimetre from her.

Feeling how both her arms are being held in place, Julia takes a deep breath, ready to scream. Only to be silence by a pair of very familiar lips against her own. Realising who had pulled the stunt that have now taken 5 years off her life, Julia relaxes in the kiss from her girlfriend. As they break apart, a light was turned on and Julia is meet with the signature grin of Le Femme Rouge.

“Fancy seeing you here Jules.”

“Carmen.”

“I got her; you can drop the note Player.”

Oh, Julia did not like the sound of that. Carmen alone where easy to handle alone, the fact that she had Player in on this, what ever they are doing would be hard to stop.

“Oh, don’t worry, everything is under control.”

Carmen tells her, seeing Julia’s reaction.

“Carmen.”

“Can’t a girl take her girlfriend on a nice and well-deserved vacation?”

At this, Julia blinks a few times. Not following along with what is happening.

“What are you up to?”

“Quite simple, I called Chief and ask if I could take you away on vacation. She on the other hand thought this would be the best opportunity to test the rest of your team. She wants to see if they can handle something like this without the obvious brain in the group.”

“This doesn’t sound good.”

“Don’t worry, the clue we left is an easy one. They should figure out who is behind the kidnapping of you in no time.”

“What exactly is the note saying?”

If the Chief is in on this plane, at least she hopes they have thought everything through. She just had to make sure of that herself.

“Thank you for brining me the Jewel, now we finally have the last piece to bring forth her end.”

Yeah, this wasn’t properly thought through. With a heavy sigh, Julia leans towards the wall once more, only to come to think about something else. Looking around, she realises that she and Carmen is standing in a hallway she had no idea of even existed.

“I didn’t know this place had servant corridors.”

She points out, with a glance towards Carmen and her smile Julia shakes her head. Now wasn’t the time to get side-tracked.

“We can deal with that later, you do realise that once Ivy and Zack figures out that the jewel is pointed towards me, their first plan of action aren’t about calling this in to the Chief. They are going to plan a way to go and meet with you!”

“What makes you think that?”

“I don’t know, maybe the fact that you had Player lie about the fact that the Carmen Sandiego we all saw the day Paper Star was arrested wasn’t you. That it was someone else that decided to tack on the red coat and fedora. They still think you are with your mother; they know how much you cared about me back in the days and they would want you to know that I have been taken, again. But this isn’t a conversation they want to do over the phone, this is something they will want to do face to face.”

Julia explains and she can see the moment Carmen realises she is right; Ivy and Zack would miss out on the second most important thing about the message. With a heavy sigh, Carmen leans her head towards the wall, right beside Julia’s. It was clear that Carmen still wasn’t on her top game after being inactive for 2 years.

“Player, I need to you book two plain tickets to Argentina.”

“Taking your girl to meet your mother this early?”

Julia could hear the hacker ask in a teasing voice do to how close they are standing, and, in that moment, Julia is happy for the closeness. She’s quite sure her face is as red as Carmen’s coat.

“You do know she has a point; can you also tell Chief about this small little problem?”

“I’m on it Red! Your flight will leave in two hours!”

A silence fell over them after that, Julia took a moment to reflect on what had gone down this day. It had started with the Chief telling them to head for this large old mansion, saying that their Crime-Net had detected VILE activity around it. So, they had been sent out to have a look, Zack had too challenge Ivy, Ivy pulling her along and then getting kidnaped by her own girlfriend and finding out that her boss is in on it all. This was going to be one long and complicated vacation.

“Where exactly are you planning on taking me for this vacation?”

“Wherever the wind would take us.”

“In other words, wherever VILE goes.”

Carmen let out a small chuckle at that.

“Not all of the time, but I have just taken away the brain from the team, at least we can do is make sure they don’t get themselves badly hurt or end up driving a car into the water.”

This made Julia laugh, he might have become a better driver, but Chase Devineaux still holds the record of destroyed vehicles within ACME history. How he managed is still a question no one has been able to find a proper answer for.

“I would however suggest that we head for Japan after I have taken care of Ivy and Zack.”

“You haven’t told him that you are back in action yet?”

Feeling Carmen shake her head slightly, Julia moves her arms from the side to giver the woman in front of her a hug, a hug that was quickly answered back. Julia wasn’t sure for how long they were standing like this, she knew however that they should be moving, her back was starting to hurt slightly.

“We should move, we have a plane to catch and I think my team have left the building by now.”

Julia tells the woman in red and she can hear Carmen let out a small sigh, she did however take a step back. She knew that Julia was right and there was a lot of things that had to be done before her meeting with Ivy and Zack.

_-X-X-X-X-X-_

“Maybe I should just hide in one of the hotels nearby.”

“Absolutely not! Besides, she really wants to meet you.”

“And you really think now is the right time for that?”

“With what we are about to do, this will be the only safe time to do this.”

“You’re right, it’s just that. It feels a bit sudden.”

“Oh, don’t worry, she will love you!”

Julia looks towards Carmen, unsure what to think. Things was moving fast, and she couldn’t help but to worry about all the different outcomes to all of this. Feeling Carmen squeeze her hand, Julia takes a deep breath in a try to calm her nerves down. Seeing the building she knew belong to Carmen’s mother and is the orphanage she had been running since after Dexter’s death and Carmen’s disappearance, a second spike of worry shoot through her body.

Leaning her up to the door, Carmen opens it without knocking, it being clear Carmen had gotten use to live here for the past 2 years. Holding the door open, she lets Julia enter first before stepping inside herself and closing the door.

“Ma!”

Carmen calls from behind her, making Julia jump slightly. She had not been prepared for her to call out for her mother the moment they had entered. Turning her head to the side, she can see a slightly wicked smile, something you didn’t want to see right before meeting your girlfriends’ mother for the first time.

“I want you to meet Jules.”

Carmen then adds, the smile gone once more. Confused as to why Carmen had just said that, Julia realises that her mother most has shown up without her hearing it. Slowly, she turns her head, eyes landing on a woman. At the sight in front of her, Julia finds herself blinking a few times, now she knew where Carmen got her beauty from. Carlotta Valdez takes one look at her and Carmen, before smiling big.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you Julia.”


	4. The missing Jewel

”I really dislike this!”

She points out, the light from the flashlight shaking along with her hand. She didn’t like the dark corridor nor the dark old mansion, but she couldn’t back down on a challenge from her brother and at least she had brought Julia with her.

“Everything will be alright; it looks like this was a dead end after all. The amount of untouched dust in this building, it’s clear no one has been here for years.”

Julia reassures her, the young woman had been walking behind her this whole time. Hearing her words, Ivy starts to relax, and her hand stops shaking. She was happy that she had dragged Julia with her and not Chase.

“But I wounder why VILE would start moving around here.”

When she didn’t get an answer, Ivy turns around, expecting to see a Julia in deep thought about her own question. When the light from the flashlight only shows an empty hallway behind her, Ivy starts to grow worry once more.

“Julia!”

Ivy carefully calls out, turning round in a try to locate her friend with no luck. Remembering what she had said about the dust, Ivy turns the flashlight to the ground, finding Julia’s footsteps only to see them disappear in thin air from where she had been standing just moments ago.

“This is bad, this is very, very bad!”

She had to find her brother and Chase and that was fast. If someone else is in this building, they needed to act fast and make sure they get Julia back. Speeding up her steps, Ivy soon finds herself running down the corridor she and Julia had been walking in earlier, hopping that her brother and Chase would be close by from where they had all started.

With luck, she hears the voice of her brother not far away and she pushes herself more. Realizing that she could just have called them over the come system the moment she rounds the corner to see her two partners, if she had, she wouldn’t be out of breath now.

“Bro!”

She managed to get out, making Zack and Chase turn towards her. Looking at them as she tries to take a few deep breaths, she can see that Chase is holding onto a paper.

“Perfect timing sis! Where is J?”

Zack asks, looking over Ivy’s shoulder in a try to find the last one in their weird little team. Taking in a large breath, Ivy takes one last moment to collect herself properly.

“Julia is missing. One moment she was right behind me, in the next she just vanished in thin air.”

She explains, seeing how worry now grows in Chase and Zack’s eyes, both looking at the paper that Chase is holding onto. Seeing their behavior, Ivy narrows her eyes slightly.

“What is that?”

She asks, when neither of the boys’ answer, she takes a step towards Chase and pulls the paper out of his hand to find out what had made them so worry. Reading what had been written on the paper, Ivy understands as to why their worry is as high as it is. Looking at her brother, she knows what they will have to do. Deep down, she could feel that she was happy to be given an opportunity to meet their old boss again, it had been far to long. But having to tell her that Julia had been taken once more isn’t a reason she would choose to meet with the woman in red again.

“Please tell me you are not thinking what I’m thinking.”

She asks them in one last try to hope for the best, the look in their eyes told her that they were on the same page anyway.

“We need to call this in now.”

Chase points out, taking out his pen as he does. Zack takes a step back to Ivy and he looks her dead in the eyes. She knew the same thing had gone through her brothers head just moments ago and she could see the same conflict in his eyes.

_“Found anything?”_

Turning her attention towards the voice, Ivy is meet with the hologram of the Chief and she can see the moment the older woman realizes that something is wrong, and her eyes narrows.

_“What happened? And where is Agent Argent?”_

“She’s gone missing.”

Chase takes points in the conversation, being the oldest and the one doing this type of work the longest. And it was just much easier to let him deal with the Chief.

_“What?”_

It was clear that the Chief didn’t like what was being said and Chase reaches out for Ivy, or rather for the paper in her hand. Once it’s back in his own hands once more, he holds it up the Chief to see.

“Ivy and Julia had taken one part of the mansion as me and Zack took another. According to Ivy, Julia had been behind her one minute and gone in the next. Me and Zack found this not just a few minutes before Ivy found us. It says: Thank you for brining me the Jewel, now we finally have the last piece to bring forth her end.”

Chase tells the older woman and silence fall over them all as they can see the Chief thinking.

_“And you think the Jewel they are talking about is Agent Argent?”_

“Wouldn’t be the first time VILE kidnaps her, and if they still want to take down Camren then, she’s the best way to go.”

Chase points out and Ivy rolls her eyes, he could at least try to be a bit more tactic about this.

“ _Return back to base, we need to try and…”_

Chief starts to order, only to stop when she sees Ivy taking a step forward. Ivy herself had not realized she did it until their boss had stopped talking and now there was no turning back since the Chief is looking at her with one eyebrow up.

“Zack and I will have to make a quick stop before coming back. We need to tell Carmen about this, she might not be the Carmen Sandiego that helped us out when VILE first started to show up once more. But she would want to know that Julia have been taken because VILE thinks that’s the easiest way to get to her. Maybe this can help getting Carm back into action once more, only for a little while at least.”

Ivy explains, hopping what she had said would be enough for the Chief to see it her way. Silence fell once more before the Chief let’s out a sigh.

_“Chase, go with them. Make sure to make proper contact with Ms. Sandiego and do what every you can to push her to help and work alongside us. Report back to me once you have spoken to her, I’ll make sure there is plane tickets for you all.”_

Chief orders before the hologram is gone. Chase bows down to take the pen and he looks towards ivy and Zack; it was clear that he is trying to figure out what they were planning in that moment. Looking at her brother once more, Ivy could see that they were thinking the same thing and she takes out an old earring from a hidden pocket in her jacket. Putting the earring in her right ear, she let’s out a soft sigh of relief when she hears it come back to life.

“Hey, Player. We need to come in contact with Carmen, any way you could sett us up with a meeting face to face, for old time sake?”

_“I’ll see what I can do.”_

_-X-X-X-X-X-_

“Do you see her?”

“No.”

“This is the spot Player told us she would be right?”

“Yes.”

“So why isn’t she here?”

“How should in know?”

Zack was starting to really go on her nerves in that moment and she is about to lift her hand and smack him in a desperate try to shut him up.

“Le femme rouge!”

Hearing Chase call out the old nickname for their boss however, Ivy and Zack turns around, eyes landing on a smiling Carmen. Dressed in the all to familiar red hood and shorts, her hands in her pocket, she walks right towards them.

“So, Player told me you guys really needed to talk.”


	5. The meeting

Julia had been right, as she always is. It didn’t take Player long to contact her once more, telling her that ivy and Zack wants to see her. Glancing to the side, Carmen could see the satisfied smile on Julia’s lips when she realizes what the hacker wanted. With a shake of her head, Carmen had told him what to do, told him what he should tell the twins and then tell them about the meeting place, a meeting place that wasn’t her mothers’ place. Because that’s where she has hidden away Julia.

She might have acted confident about bringing Julia with her to see her mother, but deep down she had been worried. She knew she didn’t really have anything to be worried about, she knew the two ladies well, but the fact remained and Player’s teasing about it earlier had her worried. She was taking her girlfriend home with her to meet with her mother so early in. It did however turn out that she didn’t have to worry at all, her mother and Julia got along well directly from the start.

Which had made it much easier to leave Julia with her mother when she went to meet with her old team. She had reached the destination for her meeting almost an hour early, some habits and training seemed hard to get ride of. Looking around herself, Carmen took in every single person that is walking around her. The weather is warm, which meant a lot of activity on the streets, which was both good and bad in this moment.

It meant she could talk to Ivy and Zack alone, not having people look at them if they were to be past by. But with this many people around, it was also hard to know if anyone else is hiding within the sea of people. Shaking the feeling of worry for now, Carmen tries to tell herself that so far VILE haven’t been able to locate where she has been for the past two years and all she could do now is hope they haven’t now.

Finding a spot where she could keep a good eye on the location and a spot that was also heavy with shadow, Carmen moves towards it. All she could do now is it wait.

She didn’t see them, but she heard them. Opening her eyes, Carmen realizes she most have zoned out for a while. Which wasn’t good, not where she had been standing. Looking around herself, her eyes lands on the twins and she starts to smile.

“So why isn’t she here?”

“How should I know?”

Rolling her eyes, Carmen moves from her hiding spot. It’s a good thing that they haven’t lost the ability to argue like that since joining ACME. Moving towards them, Carmen make sure that she walks so that they can see her, however, someone else did.

“Le femme rouge!”

Hearing Chase voice, hearing the old nickname, Carmen blinks out of surprise and her eyes lands on the person who her his grates enemy. How she had missed seeing him was beyond her and she was surprised that he was even there, Player had forgotten to mention that part. But she can’t stop the smile. It was after all good that he is there, this test was for him too after all.

Looking towards Ivy and Zack once more, Carmen can see that they have now located her, mostly thanks to Chase and they are smiling big towards her.

“So, Player told me you guys really needed to talk.”

She speaks up as she reaches them, acting as if she has no idea of why they are here or for what reason. Seeing how the happiness disappears from the three faces in front of her, Carmen puts on her best worried looking face.

“What’s wrong?”

She asks and starts to look around herself, acting as if she just now realizes that something or someone is missing.

“Where’s Jules?”

She asks, looking back at agents in front of her. Seeing how they look at one another, even trying to force one another to tell her what is going on, Carmen adds to the worry act.

“We should probably find a place where we can sit down.”

Ivy speaks up, her voice low and filed with sorrow and worry. Taking a deep breath, Carmen almost must remind herself that Julia is alright and she’s having a great time with her mother right at this moment. With a nod of her head, Carmen starts to lead them over to a small park where she knew they could sit down. The walk over is a silent one and Carmen is the first one to take a seat, only to find that neither of the three would sit down, deciding that standing right in front of her were their idea of the best option.

“We got information about some odd VILE activity near an old mansion we believe once belong to a VILE member. The four of us got sent there, Julia and I went down one corridor, Zack and Chase took another.”

Ivy starts to explain, her voice still low as she spoke.

“I took the lead and Julia followed closely behind. I just don’t know what happened, one second she right behind me, telling me everything is alright and that our mission was just a shoot in the dark since it looked like no one had been there for years. Then in the next…”

Ivy stops there and Carmen could see tears in her eyes. In that moment, Carmen wanted to tell her friend that Julia is alright, that she’s only 15 minutes away from where they are now and that all of this is just a test from the Chief. But Carmen holds her ground, even if it hurt seeing her friends this worry, she couldn’t help but wounder how long it would take them to figure out what is really happening.

“The next she’s gone. No traces of where she went, no footsteps, nothing on my end.”

Ivy managed to finish, after taking a deep breath to calm herself down. Carmen keeps her face clear from emotions, just to make sure she wouldn’t give away that she knew exactly where Julia had gone and what had happened.

“Chase and I found this on our end.”

Zack takes over, now holding out a piece of paper Carmen knew very well, she did however take it from his hands to read it, only to add on to the illusion of her not knowing anything.

“We think someone in VILE is trying to get to you and using Julia as bait sounds like them.”

Ivy speaks once more; Carmen kept her eyes on the note. With a deep breath, Carmen stands up, eyes narrowed and fake anger in her eyes. At her sudden reaction, she could see the three agents take a step back out of surprise.

“I’ll handle it.”

She says, voice short and to the point, leaving no room from arguments as she turns away from them. The hand holding onto the note turning into a death grip. Using the fair and worry she had felt when Julia had been taken during the Egypt caper, Carmen could hear the agents take a step back once more.

“If VILE has taken her once more, it’s safe to assume they’ll force her to tell them what she knows about me. Where I would be hiding.”

She says as she starts to walk back and forth, from the corner of her eyes, Carmen can see how Ivy, Zack and Chase are looking at one another out of surprise. Only for Ivy and Zack to jump at what was being said next.

“Julia can handle herself, right? I mean, she’s an ACME agent.”

Player points out, seeing how Ivy and Zack look at one another, Carmen has to fight not to smile. How did they not expect him to be listening in on something this important. Chase looks at the three of them with confusion, rolling her eyes. Camren pulls out her phone and puts Player on speaker so Chase can hear what’s going on too.

“You have already called this I, haven’t you?”

Carmen then asks, turning her full attention towards Ivy, Zack and Chase once more. The later swallowing hard as the twins points towards him as to answer Carmen who had done it. Letting out a frustrated sigh at it all.

“Well, you can tell Chief that I will be doing this my way! I don’t want anyone getting in my way.”

Carmen tells them, seeing as both Chase and Ivy is about to open their mouth to speak, Carmen holds up her hand to silent them.

“No Chief, no ACME.”

She tells them, only to turn once more. With a deep breath, she starts to walk away from them.

“Oi Carm!”

Zack calls out, and she can hear how they follows her, which wasn’t good.

“Where are you going? And you really should let us help you!”

Ivy calls out, making Carmen roll her eyes.

“I’m getting my things and I’m doing this alone. I can’t risk VILE taking any of you either!”

Hopping that would stop them, Carmen starts to speed up. She should however have known that neither of them would just give up that easy. She had to try and shake them off or hope that Player is realizing what’s happening and can contact Julia with a warning. Because she’s not able too.


	6. Just the two

Julia had been extremely nervus to meet with the one and only Carlotta Valdez, why wouldn’t she? This was the mother of the woman she had come to love, the woman she had just started to date, and she was already put face to face with the mother. A mother she had to look for, a woman that had to fake her on death to be able to live with the person she loves and the child she would lose. It had been one of the weirdest things Julia had to do research on, mostly because it meant Julia would have to dig into Carmen’s past.

So, finding herself standing in front of Carlotta Valdez now, it was weird. It did however turn out that she had nothing to worry about, Carlotta had given Julia a big smile before walking over to hug her daughter, then she had pulled Julia into a hug too. This had surprised Julia but seeing the warm and happy smile on Carmen’s face, Julia relaxes.

Carlotta then led them into the kitchen, the only place Julia could see so far was free from children. A few of them did however try to act sneaky when trying to see who had entered the house, all of them smiling big when they saw Carmen. With a stern look from Carlotta however, the children run away. Once the three of them are alone, well, probably four, Julia had a feeling that Player is listening in on what is being said, Carmen starts to explain to her mother what is going on.

The woman in front of her were understanding and she had agreed on what Julia had pointed out earlier. She had not been all to surprise that Carmen’s friend would want to talk to her face to face and Julia was starting to wounder just how much Carmen had told her mother about what had been going on.

“I should head out; I have to make sure things are still safe around here.”

Carmen points out once done with the explanation, making Julia look at her. They had gone through what Carmen was too do, how she should handle the meeting. She had found that Carlotta and herself had been thinking about the same things. She couldn’t help but to feel slightly worried, with everything that had happened the this past few hours, Julia had managed to forget the danger they were all in. And this should have been another good reason as to why Carmen shouldn’t have taken her to meet with her mother. Carmen had seen her starting to worry because Julia’s vision is soon covered by her face.

A warm and caring smile had taken over har face and it did help Julia to calm down slightly.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back before you know it.”

She kept her voice low as she spoke, planting a kiss on Julia’s forehead before turning towards her mother, nodding her head and the walk away. Left in the kitchen with woman, made Julia’s face heat up slightly, mostly due to the sudden display of affection from Carmen before she had left. Carlotta was however giving her a warm smile before standing up.

“Would you like something to drink?”

She asks and Julia nods her head at this.

“Some tea would be good.”

She answered and Carlotta nods her head at this, before starting to heat up some water. A silence fell over the kitchen as Carlotta fixed up their drinks, leaving Julia to her won mind. In this moment, she could reflect over what had happened that day properly, how it had all started out like any other day, only for it to turn so quickly. She knew the life of an ACME agent would never be an easy one, but this was a whole new turn of event.

“Carmen told me you are the one who managed to locate me.”

Julia jumps slightly, she had completely forgotten that Carlotta was in the room, the woman was now sitting down once more, two cups placed on the table. With a nod of her head, Julia takes the cup placed closes to her.

“Thank you for that, I had given up hope to ever see my little girl ever again. It has been two long years, all about learning and getting to know one another. But I’m happy, with the life she had been given, with the way she had to grow up, I’m overjoyed she managed to become this caring and strong young woman.”

Carlotta tells her and Julia smiles, even if there was a hint of pain in the smile. She knew everything that Carlotta said is true, but she had also seen what could have been the real Carmen or rather Black Sheep, if she had not managed to break free from VILE when she had. Having to try and capture an evil version of Carmen wasn’t something Julia would ever want to do again.

“She has spoken very highly of you, telling me about all the times you have helped her. How you were the only one to actually trust her.”

Carlotta continues and Julia could feel how she was starting to grow red once more. This wasn’t a conversation she had expected to have with Carmen’s mother.

“She helped me too, if it had not been for her, I’m not really sure where I would be today.”

Julia admits, realising she wasn’t all to sure about what she would have been if Carmen had not put so much trust in her. If it had not been for Carmen and the whole getting kidnaped and taken to Egypt by VILE, Julia is sure she would still be working as a professor. It had been a calm and quiet work for the time she had have it, but she was missing the excitement that came with working with and sometimes against Carmen Sandiego.

Deciding to push those thoughts for another time, Julia turns her attention towards Carlotta. She had so many questions to ask the woman, only to realise she doesn’t know how to ask them or if she really should be asking them.

“You’re wondering how I can be so calm about Carmen going back into the line of danger once more?”

Carlotta had somehow managed to read Julia’s mind and she nods her head at this.

“It wasn’t an easy decision. When Player called her, Carmen was torn about what to do. I could see that all she wanted was to go back, to feel that she was doing something good. But at the same time, she wanted to stay here, to try and live the life that had been taken from her. But I knew she wouldn’t be able to just sit on the side-line. She’s her father’s daughter, she has the same traveling soul he had, and she needs to be out there.”

Carlotta explains and Julia smiles ever so slightly, Carmen had told her the night they were reunited that it had been one of the hardest decisions she had to make for that last two years. She had not mention that her mother had more or less pushed her to do it, however.

“Our work wouldn’t be the same without having Carmen Sandiego around to make it easier for us.”

Julia says, earning a laughter from Carlotta.

“What I have come to understand, that organisation would have been far better of from the start, if they had just listened to you.”

This comment made Julia blush once more. She did however now that the older woman is right about that. A lot of things that had happened during her time as an ACME agent at the start could have been prevented if Chief and the others had listened to her, then again, she’s quite sure she wouldn’t be where she is now if they had.

At an incoming signal from her phone, Julia looks down at it out of surprise and worry, taking it out from her pocket, she sees that she had received a message. Lifting one eyebrow at this, she opens it, the worry growing even more at what she sees.

“What’s wrong?”

“Carmen is on her way back, but according to Player, Ivy, Zack and Chase is following her and she can’t shake them off.”


	7. A perfect act

As Carmen reaches the door, all she could do is hope that Player managed to get a hold of Julia and warn her, because she had not been able to shake the gum shoe tail. With a heavy sigh, she stops right in front of the door and turns around quickly, eyes narrowed as she looks at the three ACME agent that had the nerve to smile slight.

“Shouldn’t you be out there trying to find your missing partner?”

She asks them, her eyes narrowed as she spoke.

“Well, we thought…”

Ivy starts to say, only to grow silent as Carmen looks directly towards her.

“What sis is trying to say Carm…”

Turning her head to look Zack directly in the eyes, he goes silent too. Turning her head towards Chase, she sees how he holds up his hands in a sign of surrendering before he even starts to say something. To be fair, he had not said much during all of this, he had mostly been following Ivy and Zack.

“Well, you can blame us for at least wanting to meet your mother. We promise we will leave the moment we have meet her.”

Ivy speaks up once more, this however put Carmen of guard. She hadn’t expected her friends to want to meet her mother, thinking about it however, she should have known. Glancing towards the door, Carmen tries to figure out if she should let them in or not.

“It’s alright Red, Julia is already hiding.”

Hearing that from Player, Carmen relaxes slightly. With a deep breath, she nods her head and opens the door. Hearing the children, Carmen let the fake anger disappear, even if it weren’t real anger it wouldn’t be good for the children to see it. With a nod of her head to the team behind her, Carmen steps through the door and into building.

“Carmen, is that you?”

Hearing her mother call out, Carmen stops in the hallway, Ivy, Zack and Chase right behind her.

“Yes!”

Carmen calls back, only to have her mother walk into the room. Seeing Carmen, she starts to smile big, her eyes traveling behind her and landing on her friends.

“I guess these are the people you had planned to meet with today?”

She asks and Carmen nods her head.

“This is Ivy, Zack and Chase.”

Carmen introduces them, nodding towards each one of them as she says their names. The three ACME agent’s nods their head in a greeting when their names are being said. Seeing how her mother starts to look around herself, Carmen realises what she’s looking for and she let her smile drop.

“Isn’t Julia with you? I thought you told me Julia works with this group too?”

At the mentioning of Julia’s name, a heavy silence falls over them, all eyes on the floor.

“Julia has been taken; we believe it to be VILE. Zack and I thought we would come and tell Carm in person.”

Ivy explains, her eyes turning towards Carmen, her own eyes being narrowed once more. Feeling how her mother takes a step forwards, Carmen soon finds herself being pulled into a tight hug.

“I’m so sorry sweetheart.”

Carlotta speaks in a low voice, acting perfectly as a worried mother would. There was no trace of her knowing that Julia is in fact very safe and is in this moment hiding somewhere in this building, if Carmen had to guess, she was hiding in the office.

“We should go, we have to find her. Try and contact us if you managed to hear anything on your end and we will call you if we find anything on our end.”

Chase finally speaks up, moving her head to side, Carmen looks at him. She could see that he was worried himself, but there was also pity in his eyes. He had been with her when they had to rescue Julia from VILE the first time around, it had been their first time properly working together and he had finally given up on his constant obsession with trying to bring her down. He had finally started to see things from Julia’s point of view and Carmen had been quite happy to have his help.

Nodding her head as an answer, Chase put his hands-on Ivy and Zack, turning and pushing them towards the front door once more. Looking at the twins, Carmen could see that neither of them wanted to go, but they knew they had too, they had promised after all.

“Bye Carm! We’ll do our best to find her as soon as possible!”

“See ya soon Boss!”

They said the moment Chase pushes them through the door opening, as the door closes behind them, Carmen takes a step away from her mother and takes a deep breath. Keeping her eye on the door, she waited to see if they were to turn around and come back, wondering if they would have realised what is really going on. But when nothing happens for five minutes, another set of footsteps walks towards them.

“I can’t believe they haven’t managed to figure it out yet.”

Julia comments as she enters the room, there was a hint of sadness in her eyes at this and Carmen could understand that. Moving from her mothers’ side, she place herself beside Julia, taking one of her hands in her own.

“Well, from the act I saw Carmen pull here, I can just guess how flawless one she had pulled when meeting with them. If neither of them won’t realise soon, you will have to drop another clue for them.”

Carlotta says her eyes on Julia and Carmen. Julia nods her head at this, and Carmen smiles slightly.

“Well, you did help with creating a good act.”

Carmen points out and Carlotta waves her hand and Julia smiles.

“Well, from what I could hear from the office, you both did a very good job.”

Carmen’s smile grows at this, she had been right after all, Julia had been hiding in the office.

“Do you two need to leave right away, or are you staying the night?”

Carlotta then asks, turning her head to look at Julia, Carmen let her decide on their next action. For the moment, VILE is keeping a low profile. It must have hurt badly to have their first caper go so badly that Paper Star didn’t even managed to get into the museum before being taken down.

“I guess a good night’s rest would be good before heading for our next stop.”

Julia says and Carmen nods her head and Carlotta’s smiles grow. It was clear that her mother had taken a liking to Julia and having her around and Carmen started to wounder what the two of them had been talking about when she had not been here. A sudden spike of worry shoots through her body, but feeling how Julia squeezed her hand, she calms down. The short woman beside her was right, she didn’t have anything to worry about. At least not this early in at least.

And Julia had been right, they needed some good rest, it would be along flight to Japan and she was going to need all the extra energy when meeting with Shadowsan again.


	8. A mask

Rising form the seat, Julia could feel how her body is acing. For the last two years, there hadn’t been a lot of traveling. The biggest part of that is because they had had VILE in prison and there was no Carmen Sandiego to follow after though out the world. The flight to Japan had been a long one and Julia was happy that they had spent time to rest themselves up at Carlotta’s place before heading out into the world.

“You alright?”

Carmen had placed herself as close into Julia as she could, sending a shiver through her body. Carefully leaning towards Carmen, she let the weight of flight hit her. Feeling Carmen’s arm around her, Julia smiles.

“So, what’s the plan here?”

She asks, she had left Carmen to her own thought’s during the flight. She’s the one with most experience when it comes to plan a caper, even if this isn’t a caper.

“I’m hopping that Hideo would accept a privet showing of the Matsumodo castle by a fellow historian.”

“So, in other words I’m the distraction?”

“Always.”

Hearing Carmen purr the last part into her ear, shivers went through Julia’s body once more. Elbowing the woman behind her, Julia steps forwards, in a try to get her raising heart in control.

“You hope that Shadowsan will be at the castle to?”

“That or his older brother will recognize the woman who escorts the brilliant mind.”

“He won’t try to get you arrested on sight, right?”

Carmen let out a small chuckle at this, taking Julia’s hand, leading her down the hallways.

“Not after Italy.”

She explains, making Julia look at her, one eyebrow raised. There had been no capers in Italy, then she realizes, this must have happened when she had left ACME for a while.

“What happened?”

“We realized that VILE was targeting the masks, which meant that we hade to make sure they were being kept safe. When Shadowsan realized that his brother was there, he wasn’t sure he would be up for the caper. I promised he wouldn’t be seen, little did we know, ACME had warned everyone that I was near and since you guys had a sketch on how Shadowsan looked like. Suhara was waiting for us that night, we tried to explain what was really happening, he didn’t believe us at first, not until after we took down Neal the Eel.”

Carmen explains, at this, Julia steps closer to the woman beside her once more.

“Shadowsan and I then ended up cornered by Zari, Hideo hit her over the head with a velvet rope post, knocking her out.”

She couldn’t help herself at this, laughing. She could almost picture it and with the smile Carmen had, Julia could only imagine that it had indeed been a perfect moment. And Julia couldn’t blame her for that found memory, there had been a few times during the time she had to work side by side with the agent where Julia had wished to knock her out herself.

“He helped us out from there, I made sure that the police got one the VILE agents before leaving the box with the original masks with Chase, told him that they were fragile and that you would have understand.”

Carmen finish, making Julia blush. She could almost imagine Chase look at the comment and he couldn’t have been overly happy to have had Carmen drop the stolen goods to him before disappearing into the shadows once more. What she could guess, this had happened right before Chase had decided to look for her, to ask if Carmen is a good. Back then, that question had seemed so complicated. Now Julia was however completely sure about her answer, after everything that had happened after Egypt, that had been enough proof.

_-X-X-X-X-_

Looking up at the Matsumodo Castle, Julia swallows. Thanks to Player, he had fixed a meeting with Hideo for her. With a deep breath, Julia looks over her shoulder to see Carmen nod her head. The other women had switched her signature red hoodie to a black one. When asking about it, Carmen had told her she didn’t want to make it too easy for them. Julia had shaken her head at this, but she had smiled at the idea.

“Ms. Argent I take it?”

The male voice made Julia jump slightly, turning her attention towards the man that had managed to walk up on them. Looking at him, Julia could understand why, there was a striking similarity to his younger brother.

“Yes, it’s a pleasure to meet you and thank you for allowing us to come with such a short notice.”

Julia greets and the man nods his head, eyes landing on Carmen’s back for a few seconds. The hood is up and her hands in her pocket, acting like a teen that would rather be somewhere else. That had been what they are going for if Suhara were to ask, Carmen, or rather Scarlet, is one of Julia’s students that is following with her.

Seeing how the older man nods his head as an answer, Julia gives him a smile. With a nod towards the open door, he turns around and starts to walk up. Turning her head around, she could see how Carmen is looking around herself, obviously trying to spot the man that had grown into a father figure.

“Santa Rosa.”

Julia calls, making Carmen turn around to look at her. Nodding her own head towards the opening, Carmen starts to walk towards her. Once the woman is beside her, Julia starts to follow after Hideo herself. Once inside, the man starts to explain everything around them and Julia smiles, taking in everything around her. Feeling that Carmen is no longer beside her; Julia comes to a stop. Looking around herself in a try to spot her girlfriend.

Seeing that Carmen had stopped in front of a mask, Julia could only guess that was one of the masks she and Shadowsan had protected when in Italy.

“I would have thought you would find that piece interesting, Carmen Sandiego.”

Hearing Hideo's voice once more, Julia and Carmen turn around quickly. Seeing how Carmen shakes her head slightly, she lifts her hands towards the hood and pulls it down.

“Hideo.”

“Didn’t expect to see you again.”

“What can I say, I’m a restless soul.”

Julia rolls her eyes at that, at least she was right about that.

“I take it you’re actually here to see my brother.”

“I am, Jules on the other hand is interested in what else you have to show.”

Hideo turns his head to look at Julia and she nods her head.

“My brother is training at the moment; you can join us for dinner once he’s done.”

Feeling Carmen’s eyes on her Julia smiles.

“Like I can say no to a history lesson and you.”


	9. Renunion

She had been smiling throughout the whole tour, which had made Carmen smile herself. The worry she had been feeling about meeting with Shadowsan is completely worth it, seeing as how much Julia is enjoying her time off from ACME, even if the rest of her team thinks she’s been kidnapped. Again, not her idea so if her team want’s to be angry with someone, they can direct that anger towards the Chief. Carmen founds that she has no problems about that part, even if they have come to terms with one another at this point.

Seeing Julia being in her element was worth anything in this moment and Carmen was happy to see her get along well with Hideo, knowing deep down, she knew they would. After a complete tour of the castle, Hideo showed them the way to where they would be eating that evening., Julia made sure to stay close to Carmen’s side.

“Did you have a good day?”

“It was a very interesting one.”

The woman beside her was practically glowing in that moment, but a look of worry and concern slowly takes over.

“How are you holding up?”

Her voice was low, and her hand found Carmen’s. Taking a firm grip on Julia’s hand Carmen gives her a smile. She doesn’t have to answer the question since she knows the woman beside could already tell that what her answer would be. Feeling how Julia takes a step closer to her, Carmen takes in a deep breath to calm herself, Carmen finds that Hideo is looking over his shoulder. Lifting one eyebrow, Carmen sees how the older man smiles slightly and shakes her head. If she weren’t as worried as she already is about seeing Shadowsan, she would have worried about that reaction.

“So, how long are you two staying?”

And there it is, the questions Carmen had hopped wouldn’t come.

“At the moment, we are here for Carmen to meet with Shadowsan. After that, we will let VILE and ACME decide on where we go. We still have to make sure my team wouldn’t do anything reckless when looking for me and trying to take down VILE.”

Julia told him, hearing the explanation, Hideo turns to look at us.

“Carmen wanted to go on a vacation, my boss thought it was a perfect moment to test out my team when the brain was taken away.”

Julia quickly explains, the lift eyebrow from the older man made her stay quiet after that. Now wasn’t the time to go over everything that have happened, at least it’s enough that she will have to explain quite a few things for Shadowsan when meeting him once more.

Reaching the dinning room, Hideo points her and Julia to sit. Taking the seats, they let silence fall over them. The longer they were waiting, Carmen could feel how she’s growing more and more worried. Feeling Julia’s hand on top of hers, Camren takes a deep breath, there was nothing she had to worry about or work herself up about. It was just Shadowsan after all. Hearing the door open behind them once more, Carmen can’t help it but to freeze up.

“Ah, brother. We got some company for the evening.”

Hearing Hideo speak, Camren can see from the corner of her eye that Julia half turns where she’s sitting, head nodding and smiling as her eyes lands on the man who have entered behind them. Feeling a pair of eyes landing on her, Carmen takes a deep breath and is happy that Julia’s hand is still on her as she turns around herself. The look of complete surprise in her old teacher and the man who had grown into a father figure was something Carmen never thought she would ever see. Feeling an encouraging nudge from Julia, Carmen stands up to great Shadowsan properly.

“Shadowsan, it has been a while.”

“Carmen.”

Knowing that the conversation isn’t one they should be having with at least Hideo in the room, Carmen quickly looks towards the doors Shadowsan had entered through, seeing that the older man understood what she means, he turns to walk out once more. With a quick look at Julia and seeing her nod her head, Carmen follows after Shadowsan. As the door closes behind her, Carmen tries to keep herself calm.

“You’re in action once more?”

“Not fully, I helped take down Paper Star when VILE first showed up. Both Player and my mother pushed me to join in on the action. I did however decide to take Jules on a vacation.”

“But something else is at play?”

Carmen can’t help but to smile, at least the man in front of her is still able to read her and read between the lines, she’s at least he hasn’t pointed out the Julia part just yet.

“Chief saw it as an opportunity to test out how well Ivy, Zack and Chase would handle themselves if Jules isn’t there to push them in the right direction, the only thing is…”

“They believe that Agent Argent has been kidnapped?”

Carmen nods her head; happy she didn’t have to explain it all. He was the one to deal with Chief after she got her memory back after all, she had been kept on bed rest for as much as possible. Shaking his head, Shadowsan then takes a proper look at her.

“So, what’s the plan?”

At this, Carmen blinks. She had not thought about him joining in on all of this. She had come here only to meet with him again, to see him and have a talk before going back out there once more. Having him ask about the plan, being interested in joining in on all of this had not crossed her mind. Thinking about it more closely, she should have seen it coming, they share the same restless soul and knowing that VILE is out there again, it would be best for Jules best if there is another one around that can keep her safe.

“For now, we are going to keep a low profile, we go wherever ACME and VILE goes. I will jump in if Ivy, Zack, and Chase ends up in a tight spot or I realizes that they will not be able to handle what VILE is after. Other than that, I will make sure Jules gets a well deserve vacation.”

Shadowsan nods his head at this and Carmen can see how he’s thinking, knowing that it was best to stay silent in that moment, she let her eyes wounder around her.

“Who else knows about this little plan?”

“The two of us, Jules and your brother, my mother, Player and Chief. Ivy, Zack, and Chase haven’t figured out I’m the one who kidnapped Jules, even if I left a clear hint for them when it happened. For now, we are just waiting to see who will be the first one to realize what has happened.”

“Any news about where VILE is at the moment?”

“So far, they have stayed silent, no movement or anything. Player is keeping a close eye on anything. All I can guess we could do is to travel to places where we know VILE use to have hidden bases to see if any of them are being used once more.”

“But you are worried about your girlfriend’s safety if we do that.”

Carmen’s head snapped up quickly at that, eyes growing slightly big when she hears what Shadowsan had just said. The ninja doesn’t show any sign of taking what he had said back, and Carmen let’s out a heavy sigh. At least he wasn’t asking questions yet.

“It’s a risk, but at the same time. Jules would love to see what those places has to offer.”

Shadowsan nods his head at this and Carmen could see that he had made up his mind, she didn’t have to ask what his new goal is. Smiling slightly, she turns to enter to dining room once more. Seeing Julia turn her head and Hideo looking up, she could see it in their eyes. They both knew what is about to happen the moment Shadowsan steps in after her.


	10. All the way

“Are you sure you are alright?”

Glancing towards Carmen, Julia can’t help but to worry. Camren had not mention much about the place they were heading for, the little things Shadowsan had mention when she had asked him had made her worried. She could probably try and ask Player, but she had a feeling even that would end to a dead end. Seeing how Carmen takes in a deep breath, Julia is sure things aren’t as easy for her as she tries to make it look like. In that moment, Julia wanted to pull the taller woman into a tight hug. Now wasn’t the time for it and Julia takes Carmen’s hand.

“Honestly?”

“Honestly.”

“I want to turn around and head back to the hotel or visit some of the sights. This is the last place I ever thought I would return back too.”

“But it’s also the last known location of where VILE were hiding, if there is to be any place where we will be able to find some type of clue, it’s here. And I will be with you, all the way.”

Feeling how Carmen squeezes her hand, Julia gives her a warm smile. She is aware of the danger; she knows they are playing a dangerous game right now. Carmen had tried to make her stay at the hotel when she and Shadowsan checked out the old castle in Scotland. Julia wouldn’t let Carmen go in there alone, not if she could be right beside her, making sure she wouldn’t go down any dark roads and she wasn’t there to help her find her way back.

The months she had been with VILE, having her memory and personality changed, being in their control, it had been hard on her. She had after all distance herself from them all once she got her old memories and personality back and Julia had managed to have one last talk to Carlotta alone before leaving. Carlotta had mostly brushed over what had gone down the first two years when they had talked the first round. During the second talk, she had told her a bit more about how hard it had been on Carmen, how hard it had been for her to try and find her way back.

This is a conversation Carmen isn’t aware of and she doesn’t know about the promise she had made to Carlotta before they had left. To keep a watch full eye on her daughter and make sure she’s safe, both from the people that’s trying to take her down and from herself.

“I can find anything outside, not a single trace so far.”

If it had not been for Julia seeing the man coming towards the in the corner of her eye, she’s sure she would have jumped out of her skin when the ninja suddenly starts speaking beside her and Carmen.

“So, all that’s left is checking the inside then.”

Carmen points out, her eyes locked on the building. Turning her own attention towards Shadowsan, Julia is quite sure the same thing is going through his mind in that moment. Neither of them happy to see her entering this building.

“Carmen, how about we let Shadowsan take point, if he finds something, he thinks is worth you are looking into, we will go in.”

Julia asks of the woman beside her, hopping she could make Carmen see it her way. Seeing how the lady in red turns her head to look at her, Julia could see the conflict in her eyes. She could see that Carmen knows Julia is right, but Julia could also see the urge to go inside to do what she always does, to do everything in her power too take down VILE. Before Carmen has a chance to come to a decision, Shadowsan makes it for her and enters the old building. Seeing how Carmen let’s out a heavy sigh, Julia can’t help but to laugh lightly at this.

“Come on, let’s wait in the shadows just in case.”

She tells Carmen, pulling the lady in red with her into the shadows. She didn’t really have to put much effort into it, however. Carmen followed her without second guessing what they are going to do, which made Julia happy. At least she had not decided to follow after Shadowsan.

They waited for information in silence, Carmen’s eyes never left the building and Julia was wondering what is going through her mind in that moment. She’s tempted to ask but knows better than to ask in the moment.

“Red…”

Hearing Player suddenly speaking up, Julia turns her eyes back to Carmen and a feeling of worry starts to go through her body.

“Yes Player.”

“Shadowsan wants you to know that he’s haunting after Dr Bellum and they are heading for the front door. Maybe give your former teacher a bit of a scare?”

Seeing a small smile, Julia rolls her eyes. As long as she doesn’t get herself hurt, Julia is alright with her scare VILE agents. And giving the leaders a good scare would show them that Carmen is really on the case, showing ACME and her team that Carmen is trying to find her.

“Jules.”

“I will stay here, go and have fun.”

Seeing the smile turn into a grin, Carmen leaves Julia in the shadows, heading for the front door, finding a good place to hide. Voices from inside could be heard after a few minutes, from the sound if it, the largest one belonging to Dr Bellum. What Julia can hear is mostly her cursing over her old co-worker and saying how much of a traitor he is. From her spot, Julia is quite sure Carmen is rolling her eyes about what is being said in this moment.

As the door suddenly burst open, Julia sees how the mad doctor looks around herself in a try to find the best escape route. Seeing Shadowsan showing up in the door opening, just in time for Dr Bellum decides on what road she’s going to take. What she didn’t realise in that moment is the path she had taken would lead her directly to Carmen, leaving the perfect opportunity for Carmen. Julia watches how Carmen steps out from the shadows, simply placing herself in front of her old teacher.

The effect was instant, Dr Bellum comes to a complete stop. Seeing how Shadowsan takes this moment to step out from the building, making sure Dr Bellum can’t turn back once more.

“Dr Bellum, been a while.”

“Black Sheep.”

“Out of the people to return here, you are the last one I would have expected. I would have expected you to hide out in… Oh yeah, I blow that base up.”

Looking at the scene in front of her, Julia wonders exactly what had been going down when she had been working as a teacher. She could ask that later, right now, all she had to do was to stay hidden and let Camren and Shadowsan do their work. But something catches her eyes, hopping it’s what she thinks it is, Julia keeps her eyes on it. Hearing a scream and then running feet, Julia glance up to see that Dr Bellum is running away from Shadowsan and Carmen, seeing that neither of them follows the woman, Julia takes it as a sign that it’s all clear.

“That went better than I expected.”

Julia can hear Carmen say, her voice was calm, but Julia knew that the woman in red had enjoyed the showdown she had been given.

“To bad we couldn’t find anything that can be of use for us.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

Feeling how Carmen and Shadowsan looks at her, Julia walks up to where Dr Bellum had been standing, bowing down, Julia grabs hold of what she had kept her eyes on. As she stands up properly, she holds up a flash drive to show Carmen and Shadowsan.


End file.
